Democracy Fatigue

Title: Democracy Fatigue
Subtitle: An East European Epidemy
Price: € 129,00 excl. VAT
ISBN: 9789633866399
Format: Hardback
Number of pages: 286
Language: English
Publication date: 31 - 08 - 2023
Dimensions: 15.2 x 22.9 cm
Categories
Discipline: Social and Political Sciences
Imprint: CEU Press
Also available as: eBook ePub - € 128,99
eBook PDF - € 128,99

Table of Contents

Show Table of Contents Hide Table of Contents

List of Figures
List of Tables

Introduction: European Democracy at the Crossroads
Carlos García Rivero

PART I. Populism in Europe. Concept and Context
Chapter 1. The Quality of Democracy in Europe
Enrique Clari & Carlos García-Rivero

Chapter 2. The Concept of Populism and Populist Democracy
Ángel Rivero

Chapter 3. Mapping Populist Political Parties in Europe
Enrique Clari

Chapter 4. On the Persistence of Radical-Right-Wing Populism in Europe: The Role of Grievances and Emotions
Hans-Georg Betz

PART II. Political Participation under Populism. Trends and Limits
Chapter 5. The Limits of Democratic Competition. Evidence of the Asymmetrical Impact of Polarization on Europeans Political Attitudes and Behaviour
Enrique Clari and Carlos García-Rivero

Chapter 6. Populist’s Voters’ Profiles in Different Electoral Calls. Lessons from Spain
Javier Antón-Merino, Sergio Pérez-Castaños and Marta Méndez-Juez

Chapter 7. Ideological Congruence in the Extreme Right in Europe. Germany, Poland and Sweden in Comparative Perspective
Carlos García-Rivero and Hennie Kotzè

Chapter 8. Internal Sanctions for the Rule of Law Breaches under Art.7 TEU: Why is the EU Dragging its Feet?
Clara Portela and Ruth Ferrero

PART III. Populist Parties in Different European Regions
Chapter 9. Populism in Western vs Eastern Europe
José Rama and Andrés Santana

Chapter 10. Populism in Southern Europe
Belén Fernández and Ángel Valencia

Chapter 11. Populism in the Nordic countries
Eirikur Bergmann

Conclusions. What Lies Ahead
Carlos García-Rivero

About the Contributors
Index

Democracy Fatigue

An East European Epidemy

Over the early 21st century, democracy worldwide has deteriorated significantly. At the same time, new populist forces have appeared that challenge democracies through legal reforms. The stark contrast between Eastern and Western Europe in this respect is the focus of this collection of essays.

The authors consider the 2008-2012 economic crisis to be at the root of the success of the populist parties and the rise of cultural backlash against liberal values. In turn, European governments’ responses to the crisis—mainly austerity measures demanded by IMF and the EU— help explain desenchantment with the European Union. These policies made the wider public feel that they were being left out of politics, and populist parties promised to return power to them.

The contributors argue that polarization of the electorate can set in motion a radicalization that strengthens authoritarians at the expense of democrats. They also demonstrate that Eastern and Western Europe differ in their attitudes to the decline in quality of democracy. The studies consider how satisfied people are with the political changes they witness, and argue that seemingly more authoritarian attitudes in the East explain why people feel more satisfied with a defective democracy that empowers the populist-authoritarian political actors that they support.